the web as an information market dr. bas van gils bas@van-gils.org

The web as an information market

Dr. Bas van Gilsbas@van-gils.org

Agenda

Two scenarios The information market

demand and supply Brokers

(Part of) a formal model Summary Discussion

Scenario 1

A professor in mathematics .. .. profound background in mathematics .. preparing lecture on triangles .. behind his desk .. all the time in the world ??222 cba

Scenario 2

A construction worker .. .. hardly any mathematical background .. is building a roof on a chemical plant .. is in the field and has to estimate the

amount of lumber needed .. Is in a big hurry

So what?

Both need to know “something” about triangles, and may use the same keywords to describe their information need.

Since both use different appliances, results must be presented in a different way.

Results valuable for one, are likely to be “useless” for the other.

One is in a hurry, the other needs the information immediately

...

Information market

Information demand Information supplyBrokering / MatchingInformation demand Information supplyBrokering / Matching

Information supply

The Web can be seen as an information landscape with resources

How should information supply be characterized? Traditional : topic Modern approaches such as Google:

include typing / relative importance Where to gather this information? RDF

Annotations?

A rich(er) characterization of the Web

Include “all” measurable properties of online resources: Topic (resource is about Mona Lisa) Typing (resource is an EPS file) Relations (resource is linked with website of Le

Louvre) Attributes (resource has resolution 1024x768) Type of representation (resource is a picture)

A formal model for supply (+example)

ResourceSubject

Value

Data Element Resource

Relation Attribute

Resource SpaceElement

Representation

Type

Resource is a Representation of Type “picture” about “Mona Lisa” and is of Type “EPS” and has Attribute of Type “resolution” with value “1024x768” and is destination of Relation with source “lelouvre.html” and Type “part-of”

Demand

Demand is heterogeneous: different searchers need different “things” at different times, presented in a variety of ways

Assumption: query is “complete”: Informational aspects (Aboutness) Structural aspects (relations / attributes) Emotional aspects (knowledge about the

searcher)

Query

Has different “components” and is expressed in the language presented earlier.

Query formulation is a big challenge QBN might help? Profile-based retrieval? Recommender systems? What about role-based searching?

Intermezzo (roles & profiles)

SearchRole A

SearchRole B

Broker

Profile Service

Search System

The broker

The main task of the broker is to value resources for searchers based on a query. Dissect the query into distinct,

measurable properties Measure which resources have the

desired properties (and to what extent!) Rank resource based on their aptness

From a query to an aptness score

Query

Properties&

Weights

Scores / property

Final score

Issues

Properties / Queries can be fuzzy… has Attribute of Type “resolution” with value “high” …

when is a resolution “high” and is this always the same?

Which tools are used to measure the properties a resource has?

How does the search broker determine the weighting of different properties? In the query? Based on the profile?

Valuing resources

Value of an asset is personal and situational There is no (mathematical) domain in which

value can be expressed Therefore: concept of value of an asset only

makes sense in comparison to the value of other assets (partial order)

Value(a1,p,s) > Value(a2,p,s)

Example: buying coffee

In this example the woman buys some coffee to go with her cookies. To her, value of coffee exceeds the value of money. For the man, the value of the money exceeds the value of coffee

Value on the Web

From searcher perspective: exchange time/effort (and sometimes money) in exchange for information (transaction)

An important distinction: the searcher “only” receives a copy of the information

Brokers estimate the value of resources for searchers to facilitate these transactions

Summary

Economic theory (market thinking, value, economic transactions) can be applied to search on the Web

Core concepts: searchers, suppliers, brokers, value, transactions

The research presented here is the result of 4 years of conceptualizing; no tooling available yet

Question / discussion

What tooling would you make if you had a lot of money / time / programmers?

Which aspects of the research presented here strikes you as most / least valuable?

How does your own research fit in? Which online developments fit within the

view / framework presented here?